Week 4: How can we demonstrate genetics in action? Can we actually see DNA?
I can describe how heredity and the environment may influence or determine characteristics of an organism.
Rundown of the Week
Monday: Genetics With a Smile
In Class Assignment: Act as parents in a GoogleDocs fileto determine which traits randomly get passed on to a fictional child, then draw your child using Microsoft Word.
Homework: None!
Tuesday: Genetics With a Smile Wrap Up
In Class Assignment: Embed the picture of your fictional Smiley child on our Smiley Face Babies page, answer some analysis questions, then continue our investigation of heredity with some SpongeBob Punnett Square activities.
Homework: Answer the analysis questions in the Smiley Face Babies discussion tab if you were unable to finish in class.
Wednesday: DNA Cherry Lab
In Class Assignment: Extract the DNA from frozen cherries!
Homework: None!
Thursday: Formal Lab Report and Research paper Introduction
In Class Assignment: Write up a formal lab reportfrom our lab from yesterday and get an introduction of the Research Paper assignment.
Homework: Prepare for Research Paper work next week
Daily Lessons
Monday: Genetics with a Smile
Objective: Students will begin to explore the I Can... Statement: "I can describe how heredity and the environment may influence or determine characteristics of an organism," by simulating how traits are randomly passed on from parent to child in a hands-on activity.
Today you and a partner will be acting as parents, seeing which of your traits will be passed on to your fictional child.
With a partner, get one computer and open the GoogleDocs file which contains your assignment.
Get two pennies from Ms. Frazer. One of you will represent the female parent and will flip one of the coins throughout this simulation to represent which of the female alleles will be passed on to your child. The other partner will act as the male parent and by flipping the second coin, will decide which of the male alleles will be passed on to your child. You can decide who is who :).
For each trait, each partner will flip their coin. If the coin lands heads up, it represents a dominant allele. If the coin lands tails up, it represents a recessive allele. Record the results in the Part A table on your assignment sheet. Remember, genotype means the ALLELES while phenotype means the visible TRAIT.
Once you have determined all of your child's traits, you need to figure out if your child will be male or female in Part B. If the child's genotype is XX, they are female. If their genotype is XY, they are male. Record this in the Part B table.
Next, you will actually create a picture of your child using Microsoft Word. Word is installed on every school computer. The second page of your assignment sheet contains the "key" for what each trait will look like in Word. If you are not as familiar with the drawing tools on Word, you can use this Directions for Drawing for specific directions on drawing your child's traits.
When your drawing is complete, you need to convert your Word document into a picture format so you can embed it. Follow those steps to convert your document:
Make sure your "child" can be seen fully on the screen in Word. Zoom in or out to make this happen.
Find the "Print Screen" key on the keyboard and press it (it should be located at the top of the keyboard above the arrow keys).
Open Microsoft Paint (located in the Start menu under "Programs and Accessories").
Choose "Paste" from the Edit menu in Paint. The picture of your Word document you copied will now be pasted into Paint.
Crop out the parts of the document you do not want, so the picture contains just your "child."
Finally, choose "Save" from the File menu, and make sure to save this picture as a "JPEG" from the drop-down menu.
Tomorrow we will embed the pictures of our Smily Face Babies and answer some reflective questions about the process.
Tuesday: Genetics with a Smile Wrap Up
Objective: Students will continue to explore the I Can... Statement: "I can describe how heredity and the environment may influence or determine characteristics of an organism," by analyzing how the Smiley Face babies from the class are alike and different, then making some conclusions based on the Smilies' traits.
With your partner from yesterday, log on to a computer and go to the Smiley Face Babies page, where you will embed the picture of your "child" you drew yesterday as well as answer a few questions. The directions for this part of the assignment are on that page.
Once the entire class has embedded your smilies, we will move on to some Punnett Square practice with SpongeBob! This part of today's assignment will be entirely in class. You MAY need to finish your discussion post as homework if you are unable to complete it in class today.
Wednesday: DNA Cherry Lab
Objective: Students will continue to explore the I Can... Statement: "I can describe how heredity and the environment may influence or determine characteristics of an organism," by looking at actual DNA that encodes the traits and characteristics they have been learning about.
Today is a LAB DAY! Please remember not to bring any food or drinks into class. We will actually get a chance to see real DNA from cherries. Although this will definitely be an in class activity and you will be provided with this sheet in class, you are more than welcome to take a look at our lab document to see what you get to do in class! :)
After completing the lab, please access the formal lab report and save it to your server space. You most likely will not have time in class today to work on this, so I have set aside some time tomorrow for this instead of having you do it for homework.
Thursday: Formal Lab Report and Research Paper Introduction
When you get to class please begin working on your formal lab report that you saved to your server space yesterday. You can (and should!) use your lab sheet we collected our data on to help you on your formal report. When you have completed, please turn in your lab to Ms. Frazer's turn in bin on the server.
Near the end of class we will discuss the expectations for your research paper that we will be working on next week, so you can get started over the weekend. You will receive a copy of the guidelines in class, however if you are absent or forget to take the paper home and would like to get started, you can view the GoogleDocs file now.
I can describe how heredity and the environment may influence or determine characteristics of an organism.
Rundown of the Week
Daily Lessons
Monday: Genetics with a Smile
Objective: Students will begin to explore the I Can... Statement: "I can describe how heredity and the environment may influence or determine characteristics of an organism," by simulating how traits are randomly passed on from parent to child in a hands-on activity.
Tuesday: Genetics with a Smile Wrap Up
Objective: Students will continue to explore the I Can... Statement: "I can describe how heredity and the environment may influence or determine characteristics of an organism," by analyzing how the Smiley Face babies from the class are alike and different, then making some conclusions based on the Smilies' traits.
Wednesday: DNA Cherry Lab
Objective: Students will continue to explore the I Can... Statement: "I can describe how heredity and the environment may influence or determine characteristics of an organism," by looking at actual DNA that encodes the traits and characteristics they have been learning about.
Thursday: Formal Lab Report and Research Paper Introduction